Cross-chain for tire chain assemblies



March 28,1939.. EACONNER 2,151,900

CROSS-CHAIN FOR. TIRE CHAIN ASSEMBLIES Filed Nov. 16, 1936 INVENTOR%/4.CONNER Patented Mar. 28, 1939 v v r UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICECROSS-CHAIN FOR TIRE CHAIN ASSEMBLIES Edward A. Conner, Stratford, Conn,assignor to American Chain & Cable Company, Inc, a corporation of NewYork Application November 16, 1936, Serial No. 111,006 6 Claims. (Cl.152-244) The present invention relates to anti-skid tire of the usualcurb type and the curb links in turn chain assemblies and moreparticularly to crossare connected to the side chains l2 by connectingchains in such assemblies. The invention has for hooks [6 which may beof y desired forman object to provide anew form of link for cross- Thecentral link I3 is stamped out of a flat 5 chains which will providegood traction on icy sheet of metal and is formed with an aperture 5pavements and 111 also prevent skidding 88 near each end thereof. At amedian point on A more specific object of the invention is to each sideof the link is a road-engaging projecprovide cross-chain links. formedof sheet metal tion it, each prolectlon bein be outwardly withoutstanding prongs disposed transversely to away fr m h base p n f thlink- In ben 1 the plane of rotation of the wheel so as to inme these prj c ions p r f the ba e metal i crease traction and other prongsdisposed sub- Stretched S a o i e each P j c a ubstantially parallel tosaid plane of rotation so as stantially semi-conical or scoop shape,incidentalto prevent skidding. ly, forming a constricted waist 20 in thebase,

A further object of the invention is to provide as shown in Fig. 3. Thesemi-conical shape of I links of such form that certain of the prongsmay the projections renders them very strong so that 15 be used toconnect the links to one another. t y ann t be flatt n d in s rv Thepro- A still further object of the invention is to J'ections also flareapart, as shown in Fig. 5, for provide a cross-chain with links whichmay be a p rp e which Will be xplain her in fter.

I readily connected and disconnected so that in The apertured ends ofthe link are ofi-sct or case of damage a link may be removed andrestepped as shown at 22,1n Fig. 4, so that they may 20 placed byanother. overlie the adjacent sheet metal links M. Each Other objectsand advantages of my invention aperture I8 is in the shape of a keyholewith a will appear in the following description of a. prelarge r und pnin n a narrow extension slot ferred embodiment and a modificationthereof 24 n the l ngi udinal axis of the link, such slot 25 andthereafter the novelty and scope of. the incutting through the step 22.25 vention will be set forth in the claims. The links it are alsostamped out of sheet In the accompanying drawing: metal and are formedwith a projection 25 at Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of a vehicleeach side bent outwardly from the base of the tire with my improved tirechain applied thereto; link. These projections are similar in shape toFig. 2 is a fragmental plan view of my improved the projections is. Thelink I4 is formed at each 30 cross-chain showing the outer face ofcertain end with a tongue. The tongue 26 at one end is sheet metal linksincorporated in the chain; bent outwardly into the form of a hook whichFig. 3 is a similar plan view showing the inner may be looped through anadjacent curb link [5, face of said cross-chain links; the bight of thehook being then closed to make a .35 Fig. 4 is a view in longitudinalsection taken permanent connection with the curb link. The substantiallyon the line l-4' of Fig. 2; other tongue 21 is bent outwardly at rightangles Fig. 5 is a View in cross-section taken on the at a point spacedfrom the main body of the link, line 55 of Fig. 2; so that it may passthrough the aperture I 8 of Fig. 6 is a view in perspective showing howmy the link l3. The extremity of this tongue 21 is improved links may beconnected or disconnectheaded, being formed with a laterally projectinged; and, wing or barb at each side, giving it substantially Fig. 7 is aview in perspective showing a modithe form of an arrowhead 28 which isdisposed in fied form of sheet metal link connected to a wire a planesubstantially normal to the longitudinal curb link. axis of the link M.

15 Referring to Figure 1, I show in section a por- The method ofinserting the barbed tongue 21 tion of a Vehicle tire I0 having a treadsurface into the aperture i8 is illustrated in Fig. 6. The II. On thistire is shown aportion of atire chain link It must be disposed with itsaxis substanassembly consisting of a pair of side chains l2 tiallynormal to the axis of the link l3 and with connected by a cross-chain.That portion of the its plane also substantially normal tothe plane 0cross-chain which lies against the tread Ii conof the link 13. One wingof the arrowhead is sists of three links. formed of sheet metal. Onethen inserted from the inner side into the aperof these links I3 iscentrally disposed and differs ture l8 and the link M is then swung intoparallel in construction from the other two links l4 diswith the planeof the link !3, thereby causing the posed respectively at opposite sidesthereof. The other wing of the arrowhead to pass through the 5 links Mare connected to wire links l5 preferably extension slot 24. Thereafter,the two links may be swung into axial alinement. It will be noted thatthe aperture IS with its extension 24 is of less extent than the widthof the arrowhead so that the arrowhead cannot be passed through theaperture without disposing the links at right angles to each other andthen causing a relative angular movement of the links as illustrated inFig. 6. There will be no danger of having the links come apart while thetire chain is on the tire because the links cannot be relatively movedsufiiciently to cause disengagement of the parts.

The width of the extension slot 24 is only slightly greater than thethickness of the material from which the link I4 is made. If desired,after the links have been assembled, as explained above, the aperturedends of the center link may be laterally compressed to pinch theextension slot or the-metal may be peened over at one or both sides ofthis extension slot so that the links cannot accidentally come apartwhen the chain is off the tire.

In service there is always a tendency for the links on the tread of thetire to roll in one direction or the other. That is, the resistance ofthe road to the traction of the wheel will cause rolling in onedirection and if the wheel is sharply braked the forces will be reversedand the link will tend to roll in the opposite direction. This rollingis resisted by the form of the link which provides a broad base bearingon the tire tread, and also by v the flare of the projections whichbroadens the bearing on the road and causes one or the other of the sideprojections l9 and 25 to project farther outwardly when the link isrolled. The rolling effect on each link is further resisted by theadjacent sheet metal links and also by the connections to the curb linksl5.

It will be observed that the barbed projections 28 project fully as faras do the side projections l9 and 25 and the barbed projections serve toprevent lateral sliding of the tire, particularly as each arrowhead isformed with a sharp point. The arrowheads thus serve the double purposeof preventing skidding and connecting the links one to another.

In Fig. '7, I show a slight modification of an outer sheet metal link.This link Ma differs from the link l4 only in being formed with a barbedprojection 28a at each end. The projection 2811 at the outer end of thelink may a curb link 15a, as shown, dispensing with the necessity ofusing a hook for this connection. In other words, the links Ma. arereversible. In order to prevent the accidental disconnection of thislink from the curb link, the latter is preferably pinched intermediateits ends after the arrowhead has been introduced therethrough. Due tothe twisted form of this curb link it does not require much lateralcompression to distort the link to such an extent that the arrowheadcannot accidentally be unhooked therefrom. The form of link shown inFig. '7 is of advantage not only in that it provides a reversible linkbut also in that it provides an additional transversely disposedprojection to prevent skidding. It will be understood that the pinchingof the slots 24 and of the curb links may be only sufficient to preventaccidental disengagement of the parts without preventing one fromforcibly disengaging the links when desired, so that in case of damageto any link it may readily be replaced with a fresh link.

While I have described a preferred embodiment of my invention and amodification thereof it will be understood that these are to be taken asillustrative and not limitative and that I reserve the right to makevarious changes in form, construction and arrangement of parts withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of my invention as set forth in thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. A cross-chain for anti-skid tire chains including a link comprisingan elongated base provided at its ends with means for making connectionwith adjacent links and also provided with scoop-shaped road-engagingprojections, the concave surfaces of which face in opposite directionsand away from each other and transversely of the cross-chain.

2. A cross-chain for anti-skid tire chains including a link comprisingan elongated base provided at its ends with means for making connectionwith adjacent links and also provided with outwardly flaringscoop-shaped road-engaging projections, the concave surfaces of whichface in opposite directions and away from each other and transversely ofthe cross-chain.

3. A cross-chain for anti-skid tire chains including a link provided atits ends with means for connecting the same to adjacent links and at itssides with scoop-shaped road engaging projections, the concave surfacesof which face in opposite directions and away from each other andtransversely of the cross-chain, the bases of said projections beingspaced and located inwardly of the side edges of the link.

4. A cross-chain for anti-skid tire chains including a link provided atits ends with means for connecting the same to adjacent links and at itssides with scoop-shaped road engaging projections, the concave surfacesof which face in opposite directions and away from each other andtransversely of the cross chain, the bases of said projections beingspaced and located inwardly of the side edges of the link, and theprojecting points of said scoop-shaped projections being locatedsubstantially radially outwardly of the side edges of the link.

5. A cross-chain for anti-skid tire chains including a central treadlink provided at its ends with apertures to receive link connectors,laterally adjacently disposed links provided with connector headsadapted to be positioned in said apertures of the central link andconstituting when the chain is on a tire laterally flaring anti-skidlugs, and road engaging projections on the sides of said link flaringdownwardly and outwardly in the direction of the circumference of a tireon which the chain is used.

6. A cross-chain for anti-skid tire chains including a link provided atits ends with means for connecting the same with adjacent links and onits side edges with outwardly diverging road engaging projections, saidprojections being scoopshaped and facing toward the respective sideedges of said link.

EDWARD A. CONNER.

